Genesis 17, Covenant Circumcision

Abram's maid, Hagar, has borne a child for Abram.  God had promised Abram an heir but had said nothing about the mother of the heir. Thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael, that changes.

Genesis 17:1-8, Covenant renewed

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers." 

Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,"As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.

I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."

God appears to Abram and repeats his covenant. This time it includes a slight alteration in Abram's name. "God Almighty" is literally Hebrew "El-Shaddai". The name"Abram" begins with the Hebrew noun ab, meaning father; apparently "Abram" means "exalted father" while "Abraham" means "father of many."  

Ishmael is about 13 years old when this event occurs.

We are not told how God appears to Abram here. In the next chapter God's appearance (or that of His messengers) is in the form of three visitors.

Genesis 17:9-14, Circumcision
Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: 

Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner--those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."

The sign of the covenant is a strange one -- males are to be circumcised, to have the foreskin of their penis removed.  Although circumcision was practiced at times in the ANE, especially as a rite at the onset of puberty, here it is a physical sign of the covenant with YHWH. 

Circumcision has obvious sexual/reproductive effects.  There probably was a direct connection (understood in that patriarchal culture?) between (1) cutting the male organ used for reproduction and (2) the promise that men of this covenant will reproduce often enough that their descendants will "be like the stars of the sky" (Genesis 15:5.)

Genesis 17:15-16, Sarai becomes Sarah
God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."

There is a promise to Sarai also, as she will be the mother ancestor of these tribes. The name changes, for both Abraham and Sarah, seem to be relatively small.

The names Sarai and Sarah are both based on the Hebrew sar (שַׂר), a masculine noun meaning "chief", "governor" or "ruler." By adding the feminine ending ה, one gets a word meaning "female chief" or "princess".  Clearly this Sarah is to be the (female) chief of many people. (The name Sarai also appears to be a feminine version of sar; it is not clear to me the difference in meaning between Sarai and Sarah.)

Genesis 17:17-22, Abraham laughs
Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!"

Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year."

When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.

God answers Abram's request about Ishmael, but insists that the promised tribe will come through a son named Isaac, "he laughs."

The Hebrew verb "to laugh" is tsachaq (צְחַק.) Prefixing the verb with יִ (ye, indicating the pronoun "he"), one arrives at the name יִצְחָק, Yitschaq (Isaac.)

Genesis 17:23-27, Males circumcised
On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, and his son Ishmael was thirteen; Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day. And every male in Abraham's household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.

Abram follows the covenant instructions about circumcision. in some cultures male circumcision occurred at puberty and this event, the circumcision of the entire household, occurs just as Ishmael is entering puberty.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is sar 

שַׂר

a masculine noun meaning "chief", "governor" or "ruler." By adding the feminine ending ה, one obtains the word sarah (שָׂרָה) meaning "female chief" or "princess". That word is used in 1 Kings 11:3 to describe the 700 wives of Solomon and in Esther 1:18 to describe the noble ladies of Persia who might be led astray by Queen Vashti's insolence.

Some Random Thoughts

Note the strong emphasis on giving each child (or grown adult!) a name with meaning. In two chapters we have been given names and meanings for Ishmael, Abraham, Sarah and Isaac. In the ANE culture, it was the mother who named the child -- watch for this throughout our study in Genesis.

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First published Jan 20, 2023; updated Jan 20, 2026